Optimus is a bipedal, autonomous humanoid robot designed for various tasks, from factory work to household duties. Tesla plans to convert part of its Fremont, California factory from car production to an Optimus robot factory. Tesla CEO Elon Musk predicted its Optimus robot will soon be his company's most important product.

Elon Musk has never been shy about making bold predictions. But his latest statement on AI and automation is drawing some of the sharpest pushback he has seen in a while, and it is not coming from the corners you might expect.

Tesla plans to spend $25 billion on AI, robots, and self-driving tech, but rivals are already ahead. Here’s what it means for the company’s future.

Investor Ross Gerber of Gerber Kawasaki slammed Tesla Inc. TSLA on Thursday for winding down production of the premium Model S and Model X vehicles as the EV giant shifts towards robots. Best EV Ever In a post on the social media platform X,

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said he expects production for Optimus, the humanoid robot, to start around late July or August.

Tesla's profit rose in the first quarter as its car sales rebounded from a sharp slump in 2025. The electric vehicle maker said it earned $477 million in the quarter, up 17% from a year ago.

The head of Tesla China recently said Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA | TSLA Price Prediction)’s Shanghai Gigafactory will play a central role in scaling robot mass production, and I think that statement deserves more attention than it’s getting right now.

The Elon Musk superpower: "I think what Elon constantly does is he looks at what is the existential threat to the business right now," former Tesla president Jon McNeill said on Yahoo Finance's Opening Bid Unfiltered podcast (see video above).

Medical experts, however, strongly disagree with Musk's claims.

As Tesla (TSLA) geared up to release its Q1 earnings report on April 22, the investment debate is increasingly shifting away from near-term vehicle deliveries toward the company’s long-term positioning as an artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics platform.